A new research article jointly written by Laura Pozzi and ChinaComx researcher Damian Mandzunowski has been published in the August 2024 issue of positions: asia critique.

The article is now also available to read/download via project muse here.

Article abstract:

This article examines how, in the years following the end of the Cultural Revolution (1966 – 76), Jiang Qing 江青 (1914 – 91) became a negative icon of a liberated woman in high office in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). During the Cultural Revolution, Jiang Qing transformed herself into a model female political leader. After her arrest in 1976, however, political caricatures systematically deconstructed her curated image by transforming her into the antithesis of the ideal powerful woman in a socialist society. Since a model liberated female politician was not yet available, Jiang Qing served as an “iconic anti-icon” of women in politics under state socialism. Acknowledging the importance of Jiang Qing as a historical figure in Maoist China, this article analyzes how post – Cultural Revolution caricatures of her provide us with an understanding of the Chinese Communist Party’s anxieties about women in power, and it raises questions about the absence of an iconic woman-leader in the PRC’s political visual culture despite years of campaigning to achieve women’s liberation.